Spirals in Steam

Rewards, Failures and Violations

Wearied and worn after claiming the head of the Goblin Lord to the north of New Arcanist, our travelers have come back to the great city a year later, ready to hand in the head and claim their reward. Yet all is not what it seems in the city, what was once a thriving and joy-filled machine of industry and life is now populated by belligerence and depression. The people tread wearily to and from their daily chores and are constantly snapping at each other. Something has filled their nights with visions of horror, resulting in a city where everyone spends their waking hours dreading the night.

The adventure log is where you list the sessions and adventures your party has been on, but for now, we suggest doing a very light “story so far” post. Just give a brief overview of what the party has done up to this point. After each future session, create a new post detailing that night’s adventures.

One final tip: Don’t stress about making your Obsidian Portal campaign look perfect. Instead, just make it work for you and your group. If everyone is having fun, then you’re using Obsidian Portal exactly as it was designed, even if your adventure log isn’t always up to date or your characters don’t all have portrait pictures.

After consulting the Case files stolen from the desk of Detective John Crystal, Jaeden and Arlen decided to return to Gruart Gunrikksson’s workshop, to make sure he was safe. On their way there, Jaeden noticed a beggar wandering around the Art district, and tried to follow him. Somehow he lost sight of the old man when he turned down an alleyway. Meanwhile Arlen had reached the Workshop, and found that everyone had disappeared. After close inspection he noticed that there were many tiny scratches, like those made by small claws covering all of the workshop surfaces. Once Jaeden had joined him they decided to go to the festivities and see if Gunrikksson had made it there to reveal his latest invention.

Back at the market, Jinx and Lucien were having a quick breakfast when they noticed a waif of a boy watching them. When he realised he had been spotted, the child disappeared into the crowd moving towards the parades. They then decided to make use of the specials available in the market place, and acquired a few items for themselves, leaving to watch the parade soon after.

The party finally met up, and decided that their next coarse of action would be to have a discussion with Doctor Nathan Groat, the creator of the Dragon’s Blood Formula, to see if he had any useful knowledge concerning the Nightmare Plague. they made it to the Pentaclist’s district, and overheard that Gunrikksson had not shown up to do his presentation.

At the doctor’s offices they were made to wait, but when the receptionist ran out screaming from the back rooms, they went in to investigate. They found a body of one of the Doctor’s assistants, his throat torn out and blood pooling around him. Moving further into the lower levels, the were beset upon by small lizard like creatures with black spiny hairs and hard carapaces. The dispatched the creatures and moved further downwards, discovering that the doctor had been distilling the essences of various Aberrations to create the Dragon’s Blood formula.

They found the Doctor himself, under the sway of an Aboleth he had been using for his experiments. The aboleth, questioned them, using the husk of the doctor as a mouthpiece, and when it wasn’t satisfied with their answers, attacked them with its mental powers. Jinx used her own mental fortitude, and the creature escaped using a Dimension Door.

At the end of the room a hole in the floor had formed, and it seemed likely that this was where the smaller creatures had come from. Arlen had detected a Demon aura about them, but they did not seem wholly abyssal.

Broken and bruised the party retreated back up the stairs running into the Armed Criminal Prevention force that had been summoned by the receptionist. Their fortune went downhill when Detective John Crystal appeared and placed them under arrest….